"DEAD" - читать интересную книгу автора (Howard Joseph)

No headlights. No cars running. Here and there a tiny prick of light.
Flashlights, perhaps.
It is they. Surely it is they. Only they could stop a city. Only they
would want to.
For me.
Fully, coldly awake, now, I became very calm.
I was sure of my situation. I was not caught yet. I had made what
preparations I could.
As I searched for my equipment, feeling slowly along the hall, I
realized I'd stayed too long. I'd become fond of these humans, fond of
this place.
A fugitive from my people, I'd found in the warring, petty primitives
of Earth too much of my own restless character. Too creative, too selfish,
too immature.
Unable to live in the country, I'd even become used to their cities'
foul-tasting air.
Half-way down the hall, I realized I'd left the flashlight somewhere
by the bed. I groped back, found it.
Turned it on. Dim. Usable.
Let's see, five batteries. Seven-point-five volts.
The drain field must begin at about six volts, be fully effective at
ten, except for low currents. Enough to shut down all strong electrical
and electronic interference without killing organic life-force itself.
Enough to pick out brain waves. Enough to detect mine.
They wouldn't be able to start getting a fix until I woke up, just
moments ago. They'd have the general area by now, but probably not my
building, unless they'd made advances I didn't know about.
But why would they start looking when I'd be asleep? And when did
they start?
I got to the closet and began to put on my pack -- the gear that
would mask my aura.
Seventy years ago when I came to this city they had just electrified
the street lights and some of the homes; but the transformers were so
inefficient and poorly shielded they sent out hash all across the
spectrum. Very good cover.
But why had I stayed so long? I watched their technology explode,
their atmosphere foul, crime multiply exponentially, crudeness replace
gentility.
Why did they do this to themselves? Did their glory and power blind
them?
Yet I stayed. Do I love them?
I had the pack on and operational. I pocketed the flashlight and my
weapon and felt my way to the apartment door.
Outside, the hall was black. Emergency lighting was twelve volts,
completely absorbed.
That's why they did it so early. Less panic. Almost everyone asleep.
Can they catch sleepers now?
I'd lived a quiet life these seventy years. Having arrived before
Social Security and credit cards, I found it easy to continue using cash,
avoiding the scrutiny of the credit net.